Patent GB-190810289-A (GB)
Title: Improvements in Method of and Apparatus for Bleaching and Treating Cloth, Warp or other Textile Materials with Liquids
Inventor: BOULT ALFRED JULIUS
Filed: 1908-05-12
Granted: 1909-05-12
Abstract: 10,289. Boult, A. J., [Jefferson, E. D.]. May 12. Bleaching; washing.-Cotton fabric, warp, weft, yarn, &c. are bleached, washed, &c. in a closed vomiting-kier without removal. The textiles are subjected to the action of suitable treating-liquors, the liquor being aerated during the operations, and its level in the kier being intermittently raised and lowered, thereby opening and closing down the materials. The kier used is of the kind described in Specification No. 25,307, A.D. 1904, and comprises, more particularly, the closed treating vessel or kier proper, a liquor trap or well which is filled from the kier through a non-return valve, and an automatic mechanism for admitting air or steam to the trap when full of liquor and vomiting the liquor into the kier, after which the mechanism also cuts off the supply of " motive fluid when the trap is empty. The fabric is run into the kier 1 through a man-hole m and trodden down as usual upon a grid or grating near the bottom, after which the chains are placed in position and the man-hole closed. Caustic liquor is brought in through a filling pipe 21 attached to the bottom pipe 2 until it reaches a "normal level " indicated by a cock 12 in the side of the kier. Steam is now admitted through a pipe 51 connected to a vertical pipe 46 between two cocks 49, 48, of which the lower 48 is now opened, the upper 49 being closed. The trap 8 is slowly filled from the kier 1 through the bottom pipe 2, non-return valve 3, and crosspipe 7. At the same time the liquid rises through a side-pipe 25, connected to the bottom of the trap 8, and passes through a horizontal pipe 26, loosely supported in a passage-way 27 running through the trap 8, and through a horizontal pipe 29, at right-angles thereto, into a ball 30. When the liquid has reached a predetermined level A in the trap, the liquid has filled the ball 30 and returns through pipes 31, 35 similarly arranged and parallel to the entry pipes 29, 26. The whole ball system is counterpoised on a pivot 38, but when the ball 30 is full of liquor the ball system turns about the pivot 38, the attached pipes 26, 35, 44 being slightly deformed to allow this, and causes a link 42 to open a valve 43. This permits steam to flow through the vertical pipe 46, a parallel pipe 47, a check valve 55, and another pipe 56 into the top of the trap 8 ; the pressure of the steam forces the ball contained in the check-valve 55 off its lower seat on the mouth of the parallel pipe 47, against that of a vent pipe 45 which otherwise opens communication between the trap 8 and the top of the kier through the horizontal portion of the vomiting pipe 9. The steam forces the liquor out of the trap 8 through the cross-pipe 7, and, the non-return valve 3 closing, up through the vomiting-pipe 9 and vomiting-head 11 into the top of the kier. When the trap 8 is empty, the ball 30 empties and rises, closing the motive-supply valve 43 and cutting off the steam, the ball in the checkvalve 55 falls, and communication is re-opened between the trap 8 and the top of the kier so that the former can refill. The boiling is continued for seven to ten hours, and the caustic liquor is then drawn off through a draw-off pipe 5 attached to the cross-pipe 7. Clean water is then run in through the filling-pipe 21 and allowed to overflow through a valve 16 placed above the cock 12. This washing process lasts about an hour and a half, depending upon the pressure of the water. The supply and overflow are now cut off and the water allowed to fall to the normal level, when compressed air is admitted through a pipe 53 under the same circumstances as with steam ; the air will blow water from the trap 8 into the top of the kier 2 until the air blows out through a safety valve 19, before it is cut off by the rise of the ball 30. After about an hour the air is shut off, water is again run into the kier driving out the used water, with the last traces of caustic, through the overflow as before, and, finally, the kier is emptied of liquid, preferably with the assistance of compressed air admitted through the upper valve 49 to the top of the kier. Chemical is now run into the kier up to the normal level and the compressed air turned on as before ; the circulation is continued for about five hours, complete aeration being obtained. The material is then washed with water for about two hours as before, and treated with acid in the same way for about two hours, when the acid is blown back into its tank or into another kier, and finally washed in water for two hours. The cloth is now ready for starching and is run out of the kier through a washing-machine if desired.